1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a synthetic resin opening and closing press fastener employed in place of a conventional snap button or a general button.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a synthetic resin opening and closing press fastener of this type has been proposed by the Applicant in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9-75113. The fastener is composed of an integrally molded product having substantially U Shape cross section, in which one end of each of thermoplastic resin based flat plate portions of the same shape substantially parallel to each other are connected by means of a connecting portion. A number of male engaging elements are molded to stand on one flat plate portion surface sandwiching said connecting portion, and a pinch piece protruded from the connecting portion outwardly is molded in parallel to the flat plate portions. In addition, a groove shaped sewing line is formed along the entire peripheral edge of each of the two flat plate portion surfaces.
In this opening and closing press fastener, a product with its stable shape and sophistication having its shape and pattern can be provided at its low cost by means of a single molding process. Moreover, an attaching end edge of clothes is abutted against inside of the connecting portion, whereby the fastener can be attached to the clothes or the like, and its positioning is facilitated.
Hence, in the opening and closing press fastener, it is required to mold the thickness of each flat plate portion as thinly as possible in order to ensure the flexibility of clothes or the like. As described previously, however, a further thin sewing line is formed along the entire peripheral edge, and thus, the fastener is easily broken at that portion. Thus, there is a limitation to thinning the thickness of the flat plate portion. Further, as its thickness is thinner, it becomes more difficult to ensure that the contour of the flat plate portions are coincident with one another when two flat plate portion is set to the end edge of clothes. Thus, the sewing line formed at both flat plate portions is often shifted, making it difficult to ensure exact sewing along the sewing line.
Even if the thickness of each flat plate portion is minimized in order to cope with such problem, when the fastener is attached to the end edge of clothes or the like, the end edge of clothes is sandwiched by two flat plate portions at its attaching portion, and the portion is extremely increased in rigidity. There should be no remarkable problem because closing operation will be done by merely pressing the portion. In particular, during opening operation, unless opening operation is performed pressing the male surface fastener member of the counterpart until the releasing has been completed, both of the fastener-members move together with their overlapped portion, and smooth opening operation cannot be performed. This is because, when the surface fastener is engaged/disengaged, in particular, when its engagement is released, it is difficult to remove a full face at one time. That is, this is due to an engaging/disengaging operation specific to the surface fastener that one surface fastener member must be turned up to be disengaged.
Further, since the flat plate portion on a front side of clothes is sewed all over the entire peripheral edge, during the aforementioned opening operation, there occurs a problem that a shearing force acts to a sewing yarn sewed orthogonal to an opening operation direction so that and the sewing yarn breaks due to the repeated opening operation. The most difficult point in handling of this opening and closing press fastener is as follows. Two flat plate portions are composed of the same flat shape. When these flat plate portions are sewed to the end edge of the attaching portion of clothes, it is required to do complicated work that two flat plate portions are opened respectively to the outside with the connecting portion being center thereof, and the end edge of the attaching portion of clothes is inserted into its opening.
An opening and closing press fastener modified in order to solve such problem is proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-366749, for example, by the same Applicant. That is, this modified opening and closing press fastener has two portions, i.e., first and second thermoplastic synthetic resin flat plate portions substantially parallel to each other, one end edge being connected to another via the connecting portion, and is integrally molded so that the cross section is formed in a substantially J shape. A number of engaging elements are formed to stand on a surface of the first flat plate portion having a large surface area, and a groove shaped sewing line is formed along its full peripheral edge. A groove shaped sewing line is formed corresponding to part of the sewing line formed at the first flat plate portion, ends of which are opened, on the surface of the second flat plate portion having a small surface area.
According to this press fastener, one of the two flat plate portions connected each other via the connecting portion is formed to be short in length, and thus, the end edge of clothes can be easily inserted between the two flat plate portions without opening two flat plate portions during sewing. In addition, though the groove shaped sewing line is formed along the entire peripheral edge of the first flat plate portion having the large surface area, at the other second flat plate portion with its small surface area, the transverse U shaped groove shaped sewing line of which the ends at an end edge opposite to the connecting portion are opened is merely formed at a corresponding position so as to be partially superimposed with the sewing line formed in the first flat plate portion. Thus, the shifting between the sewing lines of the first and second flat plate portions is reduced, and the sewing along the sewing line is surely achieved. In addition, on the front side of clothes, sewing is directly made on the clothes after sewing of the second flat plate portion. Thus, unlike the fastener disclosed in the publication, the excessive force in the shearing direction caused by the flat plate portion is not applied to the sewing yarn on the second flat plate portion side, and the sewing yarn is not broken.
And the first flat plate portion having large surface area is arranged on the rear side at the fastener attaching site of clothes, and the second flat plate portion having small surface area is arranged on the front side of clothes. Thus, in view of appearance, the rigidity at the attaching site is substantially eliminated, and the visibility is increased. Further, even if the thickness of the flat plate portion is somewhat increased, required flexibility can be ensured, and opening operation of the fastener is performed smoothly.
However, in the fixing fastener disclosed in the above publication and the fixing fastener according to the above application, the fixing fastener is attached to the attached body by means of sewing. The sewing work is cumbersome and once the fixing fastener is attached to the attached body, the fixing fastener cannot be removed from the attached body unless the sewing yarn is cut, and the-fastener cannot be replaced easily. Further, the required minimum thickness is provided at the first and second flat plate portions in order to prevent the strength from being lowered due to sewing. In view of flexibility, the rigid feeling cannot be eliminated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a synthetic resin fixing fastener capable of ensuring easy attaching to its attached body while utilizing the advantages of the foregoing synthetic resin fixing fastener, and capable of being easily replaced with another one.
According to the present invention, there is provided a synthetic resin opening and closing press fastener comprising: a front side flat plate portion and a rear side flat plate portion which are to be attached to an end edge of a flat plate shaped attached body, a positioning portion of the end edge of the attached body being provided on a part of the press fastener; and a number of engaging elements of a surface fastener on a rear side, wherein the opening and closing press fastener is attached to the attached body by means of a synthetic resin pin member having an engaging head at least at one end.
A conventional press fastener of this type has been attached to its attached body by means of sewing using the sewing yarn. The present invention is primarily featured in that the press fastener is attached to the attached body by means of a synthetic resin pin member by a simple operation. That is, when the fastener attaching end edge of the attached body is inserted from an opening end of the front and rear side flat plate portions of the press fastener, and the end edge abuts against a connecting portion that is a positioning portion, an engaging pin connects both of the flat plate portions via the attached body. In addition, the engaging head formed at a free end of the pin is removably attached to at least one engaging portion of both of the flat plate portions, and thus the attaching is completed.
Preferably, the front and rear side flat plate portions are integrally molded via the positioning portion. Alternatively, the front and rear side flat plate portions are separate from each other. When the front and rear side flat plate portions are integrally molded via the positioning portion, the flat plate portion of each of the front and rear sides have to have the same color. However, if the above plate portions are separate from each other, each flat plate portion can be arbitrarily selected, and a variety of uses can be achieved in view of appearance and design in accordance with preference.
Preferably, the pin member is molded to protrude integrally with an inner face of the front side flat plate portion or the rear side flat plate portion toward an inner surface of the flat plate portion of the counterpart. Further preferably, a surface area of the front side flat plate portion is set to be smaller than that of the rear side flat plate portion, and the pin member is molded integrally with a rear face of the rear side flat plate portion at a position out of the front side flat plate portion toward the front side.
When a fastener attaching end edge such as clothes is inserted between the flat plate portions on the front and rear surface sides of the press fastener by employing the aforementioned construction, the press fastener is formed to have substantial J shape in section, and the fastener attaching end edge such as clothes can be easily inserted without widening its opening end. Moreover, its attaching end edge is abutted against the positioning portion, whereby the attaching condition and position of the press fastener is automatically determined, and thus, the press fastener can be attached neatly. Further, a pinch piece extending outwardly from the positioning portion is provided, thus improving the durability and opening and closing operability of the press fastener.
Alternatively, the pin member is separate from the front and rear side flat plate portions, and an engaging head is provided at both ends thereof. Although the engaging head of both ends may be formed from the start. It may be formed at one end. While the fastener attaching end edge of the attached body is sandwiched between the front and rear side flat plate portions of the press fastener, an end on one side of the pin member on which its engaging head is not formed is inserted through the front and rear side flat plate portions via the attached body, and thereafter, the engaging head may be formed by deforming the end to be softened by heating or ultrasound.
Preferably, the number of the engaging elements are formed on the surface of the rear side flat plate portion. Also preferably, a flat plate shaped press fastening portion substantially parallel to the front and rear side flat plate portions extending from the positioning portion to the outside is provided to the fastener, and a number of the engaging elements are formed on the rear side of the press fastening portion.
In the former case, when an attempt is made to engage the number of engaging elements with the engaging elements of the counterpart, this engagement is made by pressing two flat plate portions while the attached body is sandwiched between these flat plate portions. Thus, sufficient engagement may not be obtained as long as these flat plate portions are strongly pressed intentionally. In the latter case, the engagement can be done by pressing one plate-shaped press fastening portion. In comparison with the former case, even if the pressing force is small, these portions can be reliably engaged with each other.
In addition, in the former case, when the fly of clothes is opened, the opening operation force acting to an engagement face directly acts to the attached body sandwiched between both of the flat plate portions on the front and rear sides. Thus, the attached body may be damaged. In the latter case, a majority of the force caused during opening operation acts only to the press fastening portion, and the damage of the attached body due to the opening operation is reduced, and the durability is improved.
Further preferably, the engaging element is made of synthetic resin, and is molded integrally with the opening and closing press fastener, and high productivity and low manufacturing cost can be achieved. However, the rigidity of the male engaging elements is felt, and slight noise occurs during release from the engaging member of the counterpart. Alternatively, the engaging elements are obtained by cutting part of a loop made of a monofilament woven and knitted at the foundation structure during weaving and knitting, and the foundation structure is securely fixed to the opening and closing press fastener. The above described male engaging elements of the opening and closing press fastener are composed of a monofilament woven or knitted in the woven fabrics or knitted fabrics, at the time of weaving or knitting. Thus, the cost per product unit of the surface fastener member is increased, and further, the number of processes for bonding the surface fastener to a predetermined position of the press fastener is increased. Thus, the manufacturing cost is inevitably increased. However, there is provided a superior sense of touch because of its high flexibility.